Blog entries by David Wiley pertaining to writing, literature, journalism, as well as containing original poems and stories.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Writing Goal Tracker

An odd set of coincidences has convinced me to create this post. A few nights ago I was falling asleep and thought about making a blog post to establish my writing-related goals for 2012. I figured this would be a way of keeping myself accountable, since I would have my readers to encourage me to achieve these goals.

The next morning there was a prompt on The Lightning and the Lightning Bug for "Commitment Device". Coincidence? I hardly believe it could be. It was certainly a sign to get motivated and put an action plan into words.

For those who read my last post about the fear of submission, I will provide a status update. I got a response for three of the seven poems I submitted. They were all rejected by an "Emerging Writers" publication. The kicker? Two were rejected solely because they rhyme even though the submission guidelines mentioned nothing about not wanting rhyming poems.

They don't deserve to publish my poems anyway.

I've decided to break this down into six categories: books read, poems written, stories written, works submitted, works accepted, and works rejected.

An important part of being a writer is reading a lot as well. It helps us to grow and develop ideas and voice in our own writing. This is never an issue for me because I love to read. I decided to finally create a GoodReads account last night, where you can see my collection and which books I've read this year.

I tend to write a lot more poems than stories, but I think it would be best for me to continue to generate new work in both categories. That is why there will be a lot more poems than stories for the goals, and for these categories I'm tracking from today through 12/31/2012.

For the submission-related ones, the reason should be fairly self-explanatory. I'll never become published if I don't submit, and I'll hopefully fail to meet my rejection goal.

Check back often because I'll be editing this page every time any of these numbers change!

-----------------------

Books Read: 17/52 Last Book Completed: The Importance of Being Earnest and Four Other Plays by Oscar Wilde

You can do it! Rejection sucks, but it just makes us more resolute and determined. They're the ones missing out on you, a talented and capable emerging writer. You'll make it. Keep goals like this, and one day, you'll blow them all away. I just want a signed copy of your book of poetry when you do!

Thanks for linking up with the Lightning and the Lightning Bug. Great post!